Kirribilli Head Chef: John Ikin

John Ikin is the new Head Chef at Garfish Kirribilli. Having started there in August 2012 John has worked through the summer menu and just recently been working with Stewart (Garfish Executive Chef) to design the upcoming Autumn menu that will be available in March.

We stopped by Kirribilli last week to have a quick chat to John about how he’s finding Garfish, the new menu that’s coming up and his slant keeping his team motivated.

“I’ve found that the menus at Garfish are very much a collaboration. As head chef I’ve had quiet a bit of input on how the menu turns out. We always have the staples like the Snapper Pie and the Salt & Pepper squid – you’d cause a riot if you removed those!”

So it must be great to see a dish go from planning through to being served in the restaurant?

“Yeah it’s very gratifying when people really enjoy a dish, or when customers come back and request the dish again. I’ve found a number of guest are very keen to learn about ingredients and how it’s prepared – it’s awesome!”

What’s coming up on the new Autumn menu that you’re looking forward to ?

“There is a few dishes that I think will be interesting. The pasta this time around we are changing it, serving it with a shell fish butter, I think that will be really nice. We have a great entree, parsnip vanilla puree with some scallops and pancetta – it’s very simple but I think it will be well received.”

“And for dessert, we’re planning a passion fruit cheese cake with a white chocolate cream that I think will go really well – it’s very good!”

How do you keep yourself and the Kirribilli team motivated in the kitchen?

“Well, we have the main menu, that changes every quarter but we also do 3 garnish changes every week, these work through the black board menu – so that’s constantly changing, keeps us doing something new all the time.”

“We look for ingredients that are in season and then promote these via the blackboard menu, we often experiment with things there and see how they’re received. We get a lot of feedback from our visitors.”

If you’re visiting Kirribilli look out of John and enjoy some the fruits of his work!